Strange Happenings in Liaoju Prefecture

In the Immortal Cultivation Realm, only super sects with abundant Spiritual Qi could accomplish this.

And now, this tiny sect, nestled in a remote mountain village in the Mortal Realm, has actually accomplished it.

I doubt anyone would believe it if I told them...

Liao Pantu could only sigh inwardly at all of this; there was no one he could share it with.

He grew increasingly hopeful about the sect he had joined by accident.

Several days passed just like that.

Lin Xiao has recently started diligently following the others to the cultivation room to cultivate every day.

Only occasionally, when he was tired of cultivating late at night, would he ponder over mental techniques and Law Technique.

Every now and then, he would find an open space to practice his "Swordsmanship in the Clouds." After all, this was the first time he had practiced swordsmanship in both his lives. Although the system had given him a cheat code to learn it directly, he had never tried it before and wanted to practice it himself from beginning to end to feel the sense of accomplishment that he had truly mastered it.

Moreover, he plans to teach this Swordsmanship to everyone in the sect when he has time, just in case he accidentally embarrasses himself in front of everyone because he is not proficient or something, that would be embarrassing.

Therefore, practicing swordsmanship personally is absolutely essential!

But in this poor and isolated Xiushui Village, a peaceful and idyllic life unfolded.

Far away in the capital of Hufang Province, in the government office of Liaoju Prefecture, Prefect Tong Shuzheng was receiving distinguished guests in his residence.

Only two people were present in the large main hall of the government office; all the other servants had been dismissed.

One of them was Tong Shuzheng, the prefect of Liaoju Prefecture.

The other person, who looked to be in his twenties or thirties, sat in the guest seat. He leaned back in his chair with a somewhat casual posture, gently holding the lid of his teacup in one hand and tapping it lightly on the teacup from time to time, making a "tap-tap" sound.

Prefect Tong Shuzheng greeted him cautiously, with a hint of humility.

"I never expected that my humble abode would send a celestial being to assist you so soon after I submitted my request for aid from the Shangyang Sect. Your arrival truly brings honor to my humble abode."

May I ask your honorable surname, sir? That would allow me to make a brief acquaintance, and perhaps boast to others that I have met a sir as ethereal as a banished immortal.

Tong Shuzheng's flattery pleased the man called "Immortal" greatly. His face was smug and pleased, and he glanced at Tong Shuzheng, saying with arrogance:

"I am not worthy of being called an immortal by you. If my master finds out, he will scold me. My surname is Jin and my given name is Nanhuan. You can call me whatever you like."

"Tell me first, what happened here that made you come to the Shangyang Sect for help?"

Upon hearing this, Tong Shuzheng first stood up and cupped his hands in greeting, saying:

"This humble official Tong Shuzheng, greets the Venerable Jin! To have met the Venerable Jin is truly an honor beyond measure, a life well-deserved."

Then he sat down again to answer his questions.

"I suppose the Immortal has learned something from the official document our government sent to your sect..." At this point, Tong Shuzheng suddenly realized that Jin Nanhuan probably hadn't even carefully read the document from their government office, so he immediately changed his words:

"Alas, Immortal Jin, to be honest, some strange things have been happening in our Liaoju Prefecture recently."

Hearing him talk about strange things, Jin Nanhuan felt a little disdainful. What strange things could happen in this boring mortal realm? Zuo Buli was just spouting nonsense from ghosts and demons, or at most, some little demons who had just gained intelligence causing trouble.

Mortals are such a hassle; they bother cultivators with even the smallest things.

If he hadn't been stuck at the bottleneck of advancing to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage and wanted to obtain some resources from the sect to help him break through, he wouldn't have wasted his cultivation time on meddling in the trivial matters of the mortal realm.

He thought this to himself, but on his face, he showed no disdain whatsoever, adopting an expression of eager anticipation. "Oh? Tell me in detail."

Seeing that he still cared, Tong Shuzheng breathed a slight sigh of relief, feeling that his humble efforts had not been in vain.

"Fortunately, the immortal listened to my advice, and this is what happened."

In recent months, there have been frequent cases of children going missing in the city, ranging in age from one to eleven or twelve.

At first, I thought it was child abductors causing trouble, so I increased the number of people patrolling and investigating, and strengthened the security at the city gates. But to my surprise, it was all ineffective. Children continued to go missing. To this day, dozens of families have had their children missing, according to the statistics.

Until the beginning of this month, several people reported that they had vaguely heard the cries of children near a large dense forest on the south side of the prefectural city. A night watchman passing by also said that he seemed to have heard the cries of many children at night.

So I immediately gathered men and went into the dense forest to investigate, but who knew...

He shook his head and sighed softly:

"We searched the entire forest, but we didn't see a single person."

Upon hearing this, Jin Nanhuan raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? Is that so?"

Dozens of children have gone missing, and that's just the ones on the list; there are probably many more who haven't been counted.

This won't do. Liaoju Prefecture is their Shangyang Sect's territory. These lost children might be the future disciples of their sect. This is a very serious matter!

If he resolves this matter well, he will surely reap many benefits upon returning to his sect...

With this in mind, Jin Nanhuan became more serious and sat up straight, waiting for Tong Shuzheng to continue.

Tong Shuzheng seemed oblivious to his change in demeanor and continued:

"Although we haven't found them, we still suspect that the missing children are in the dense forest, which is why we dared to send a formal request for assistance to your sect."

"How did you determine that?" Although Jin Nanhuan suspected that these children were most likely hidden in this dense forest after hearing what he said, he still asked.

Tong Shuzheng then loudly addressed his attendants who were waiting at a distance:

"Bring up that physical evidence!"

The attendant, who was prepared, immediately stepped forward with a wooden tray, placed it on a small table to the side, and then quickly bowed and withdrew.

Jin Nanhuan then saw two shoes on the tray that were completely different in size and style.

However, it's not hard to see that the owners of these two shoes are children around seven or eight years old.

"You found this in that dense forest?"

Tong Shuzheng nodded:

"This was the only discovery we made after thoroughly searching the entire dense forest. The two shoes have also been examined by the families of the missing children, and it has been confirmed that they belong to children from two of those families."

Jin Nanhuan rubbed his chin, pondered for a moment, and then said to Tong Shuzheng:

"Take me to that dense forest. I want to see what kind of scoundrel dares to run wild on my Shangyang Sect's territory!"

Tong Shuzheng had no choice but to rise, cup his hands in thanks, and said:

"Thank you for your help, Immortal! I will make the arrangements immediately!"

With that, he turned and went out, instructing his servants to prepare for the trip!